http://www.theverge.com/2014/6/23/5832142/study-further-confirms-link-between-autism-and-pesticide-exposure This is now at least the third different study that all seem to be linking pesticides with autism that I have read in the past year.
No, PETA, Cow Milk Does Not Cause Autism The group that brought you animal-fur horror stories has just launched a campaign claiming cow’s milk causes autism. Hold on to your Cheerios, this one needs explaining. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) earned its chops over the last few decades by raising public awareness about the cruelty of wearing animal fur. Using hard-hitting, obnoxious photos of fur-covered celebrities, they drove home their point—and changed the way many people think about wearing that mink in the process. It is unsettling, therefore, to see them adopt the same take-no-prisoners approach to pushing an eccentric theory linking milk consumption to autism. Their “Got Autism?” campaign features an aerial photo of a frowning string of Cheerios in a bowl of cereal. In the ad, they cite an article published by several Norwegian scientists in the journal Nutritional Neuroscience. The article, published in 2002 no less, was not the lead article in that particular volume. That honor went to “The Development of Food Preferences in Cats: The New Direction.” The autism article described 20 children with well-characterized autism, 10 of whom went on a gluten- and casein (the protein in cow’s milk)-free diet and 10 of whom went about their business as usual. At the end of a year, the two groups were retested and the group on the restricted diet appeared to have improved, as evidenced by demonstrating fewer traits of autism, more than the kids on no particular diet. Other aspects of their autism, including language skills, were unchanged. This study was one of many by the same research group that presents a thoughtful, not-nutty, biologically plausible way to link sensitivity to some ingested foods with a wide variety of symptoms. Lots of kids have food allergies; even more kids have parents who think they have food allergies. For example, I was an itchy kid and was placed for a few months on a diet without milk or chocolate; I continued to itch and flunked the test. I suspect I am not in the minority of children of worried parents to have been “experimented” on. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/29/no-peta-cow-milk-does-not-cause-autism.html
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v485/n7397/full/nature10945.html http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22914163
Certainly could be, and seems like a very good avenue to research. There could be many factors, there could be several differing diseases being lumped together and referred to as autism. I just have heard so many crackpot and non-science based theories in the past, some on this board, that I thought I'd link to a cause that at least preliminarily looks like it could be actually related. Your papers on fathers age and de novo mutations also looks interesting.
I found them interesting, too. What it shows is that the cause isn't known or perhaps even knowable. It sure does make sense to reduce peoples' exposure to toxic chemicals. That doctors are better able to diagnose Autism might skew the data, too. You look at 30 years ago when there supposedly was less of it and maybe there was just as much just not diagnosed properly.
I'm not saying there isn't a correlation, but meta-analysis is flawed in many ways. This study is an exercise in meta-analyzing existing data, and trying to find a correlation. An empirical study that actually has a population observed (rural versus urban, as Eastoff said, for example) would be much more convincing to me.
Yep papa, it's just something with preliminary findings, but very interesting. I don't know where this will lead, but sounds like a good place for additional research. My friends son was just diagnosed, so it just got more personal, but for everyone affected let's keep the research going.
An intelligent and skeptical eye is all I ask for of anyone, regardless of politics. I actually know Democrats who bring up good points at times, and I side with Democrats on almost every social moral issue. I thought your example was spot-on.
Science has to start with an observation or theory. It's obviously important to look at possible links, as long as when they are disproven they are dropped. Does your friend fit any theme you mentioned? How old is he? Do they live in a place with high pesticide use? Is the mother obese?
Monsanto kills and maims hundreds of millions of humans with it's products, some by accident, some deliberately by design. Easily the #1 serial-killer in the history of the Earth. You can nitpick over the particular avenues of delivery Monsanto uses, and the fringe effects of a few of it's products, but there is no denying that the company kills all known forms of life on a massive scale every second of every day.
My friend is a bit older, maybe 38, not sure. Wife is thin, but her family has a vineyard south of portland and they spend most weekends in the country at the vineyard. So in this case, I could see either the male age or pesticides being involved. But with any one case, you never know, could just be genetic or some unknown cause.
